


Managing life

by fluffyvillain



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-13 22:32:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7988530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffyvillain/pseuds/fluffyvillain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Norman Reedus decides to open a Jazz club and hires 20 years younger Lena to run it. When the owner of a hospitality business is a Hollywood star with no experience in that field and the manager is a stubborn, little miss know it all, clashes are inevitable. 20 years age gap doesn't prevent them from going on each others nerves like nobody else does. Nor does it prevent them from becoming something more than associates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was finally getting colder in New York, September was coming to an end and it was the first day temperature was below 25℃ since Lena came back two weeks ago. She last visited New York over a year ago, because she was busy developing her business back home. Not that she didn’t think of New York ad her home too, but unlike her 10 years older brother, Lena felt her heart being closer to Europe.

 

Lena’s father was an American businessman, doing his work mostly in Europe. One day he was preparing to make a deal with another company, expecting yet another elderly company representative, but then she entered the office. Walking up to him with such a determination he was sure she could’ve conquered the whole world only if she wanted to. That’s how her parents’ story started. They decided to stay and form a family in Lena’s mother’s country. A year after they got married Luca, Lena’s brother was born and she was born over 10 years later. Luca and Lena used to spend their summer vacations in Long Island with their grandparents, making New York their second home. When the time came, Luca decided to go to the University and later Law school in the US. Lena, following her brother’s footsteps graduated from University in the US too, but to her parents’ and brother’s initial discontent, she chose management. As it turned out, she made the right choice, her name was already known in American hospitality management circle and, even though she was only 27, she owned a chain of cafes in 5 European countries. True, she did open the first two cafes with the money she inherited from her late parents, but the rest of her success was based on her own skill.

 

Unlike her professional life, her personal life was spiraling down for years. When she finished 3rd year of University, she came home not informing anyone about her arrival, finding her boyfriend, with whom she’s been in a relationship since the senior year of High school, in bed with her best friend, ending up being not the only one surprised. She understood him, it was hard for her being in a long distance relationship too, not that she justified him, but she did get it, she just didn’t get why it had to be her best friend. Not only did they ruin her perception of love, they ruined her idea of friendship too. She thought of her best friend as of sister she never had and her boyfriend was the only man she ever laid her eyes on up until that point, the only one she loved and the only one she ever wanted to marry. She cut them both off out of her life, despite their pleas and excuses – saying that it was just a moment of weakness and loneliness for both of them. She didn’t like talking about it, but everyone knew it, it wasn’t hard coming to a conclusion about what happened when a person suddenly breaks up and cuts all ties with both her boyfriend and her best friend. She had a hard time letting anyone in after that. Her profession did require a lot of interaction, but that was all she ever did, she had shallow relationships with her coworkers and associates. The only real friends she had were her University friends Chris and Marry, her brother and parents.

 

Then tragedy struck, two years later, both of her parents died in a car crash, her father died instantly and her mother ended up being in a coma and then passing away two days later, leaving her enough time to fly back and just say goodbye one last time. Luca was her biggest support at that time, but he was already married and expecting a child and, even though they were going through the same suffering, he had more responsibilities and he had to bounce back quickly. Since neither of her parents had any siblings and all of her grandparents had passed away years ago, she was left with Luca and her paternal grandma’s sister as the only family. Of course, Chris and Marry were there too, they were here family by choice, they and their beautiful baby girl.

 

It took her a while to get back on her feet, she spent months locked inside of her childhood home, leaving only when absolutely necessary. She quit her job in New York, she just couldn’t go back, not yet. She was offered to go on an unpaid leave, but it wouldn’t have been fair to keep her position for so long, because she knew she wasn’t ready to come back any time soon. She was fond of her coworkers and she did manage to put a new hotel in the top ten most visited hotels in New York, but being there wasn’t what she needed or wanted at the moment.

 

When she got back on her feet, she started making preparations for opening a café, one that will somehow keep the memory of her loving parents. She named the café “Memories” and, on the wall, she hung some of her favorite photos of her family members. She suggested the employees that they could bring their own photos that carried some importance to them. In a matter of weeks, the wall was filled with photos and even small objects that meant something to someone. Employees were given big paychecks right away, even though it definitely meant losing most of the profit in the first few months, but happy employees equal happy costumers. Lena took a risk with the menu, there were only item made the old fashioned way. She tried to bring some of the old tastes back, there were no sodas, only natural juices and there weren’t any kind of coffee makers, coffee was only brewed traditionally. Her risk paid off only three or four months later, the café was always full and since it was located in the suburbia, she decided to try her luck with opening the same themed café downtown. A year later, she had cafes all over her country. With the success she quite quickly achieved, she started striving for more. During the next two years, she opened 4 more cafes in 4 different countries. To be honest, when it came to design and size, they were nothing special, on the contrary, each of them was pretty small, but they all gave out the warmth of home and that was all that mattered.

 

She was satisfied with what she achieved and she wasn’t planning on expending her business any further. The whole process of opening new cafes was exhausting, especially in foreign countries, the amount of paperwork needed was insane. Her income has started increasing soon and it was more than enough for her to have a secure financial future. She was aware that hospitality is a risky business, but she was saving up money and she could always go back to managing someone else’s business. Even now, she was mostly just supervising everything, spending most of the time in her original café.

 

She last visited New York over a year ago to celebrate Julia’s, her niece’s, 1st birthday. It was just a brief visit, long enough to see Chris, Marry and her grams Margaret a few times and to spend some times with her nephew John and her niece. Now that everything was running smoothly, she was getting ready to visit New York again. She was planning on staying there for a month or so. Well, that was before her Skype talk with Chris and Marry. It was 10 PM on Saturday when Skype on her phone started ringing. She wiped her chips salty finger off the bottom of her pajamas and answered it.

 

**“Oh, you answered,”** Marry smiled into the camera while sitting in Chris’ lap.

**“Why wouldn’t I?”** Lena extended her arm so they could see more of her.

**“I thought you might have gone out,”** Marry chirped.

**“I didn’t. I told her you would be some watching romantic movies and eating chips,”** Chris had that smug on his face that made Lena want to punch his forearm, like she usually did.

She reached for the remote and pressed mute to stop them from hearing the main actress starting to weep on TV. **“Well, you were wrong, I’m not doing any of that.”**

**“Seriously, Lena? There a chip on your pajama.”** Lena lifted her hand to her chest. **“Little more to you left,”** Chris navigated.

Putting the chip in her mouth, Lena retorted: **“Okay, guilty as charged. What are you guys doing?”**

**“Nothing much, we just put our precious little pain in the ass to sleep, so we have about an hour of rest while she’s napping.”** Marry shuffled a bit, making herself more comfortable.

Chris put an arm around his wife’s waist, pulling her closer to him. **“You know how I’ve been working for an agency that represents various artists?”**

**“Really? I didn’t know that you’ve been doing that for the past three years now. Wow.”** Lena said that with no little sarcasm in her voice.

**“Okay, that came out wrong, smartass. Well, in the past few months I’ve become close to and actor and he needs your help. He’s planning on opening a club and he needs a manager.”**

**“New York is full of good managers and I’m pretty sure you are aware of that,”** Lana stood up to grab a glass of water.

**“I am, but he wanted the best one and you’re it.”**

Lena was the one grinning now: **“That’s something I rarely get to hear from you, please, do continue your praise of me.”**

Marry giggled into her husband neck knowing it was true, she only heard Chris praising Lena to her face once or twice. **“Don’t fish for compliments, you’re not getting any more from me. It was hard saying even this one, I feel like I’m about to faint. Anyhow, he is willing to pay you big money.”**

Lena placed her phone on the kitchen counter, leaning it against her microwave. **“You know that I don’t exactly need money.”**

**“I know, but I also know you miss your family over here and I know you hate not doing anything, this way you could be close to us, but also have a job. Not that I’m saying that you couldn’t find it yourself, I simply think that this is a good opportunity. I’m aware of how much you like challenges and you’ve never worked with clubs. I saw that little twinkle in your eye, you can’t deny it.”**

**“Yup, I saw it too,”** Marry meddled in.

**“I won’t deny it, I am kind of intrigued, but you guys know that I’m the owner of 14 cafes, right? I’m pretty busy.”** She gulped the glass of water.

**“But we also know what you said to us last week. You said that you delegated your job nicely and that you don’t even have to show up at any of the cafes and the things will still function flawlessly,”** Marry, of course, took her husband’s side.

**“Yes, but…”**

**“There are no more buts, your family is here. I know why you don’t want to leave, I understand, honey, I feel for you, but you need to change something. It will be good for you”**

**“Plus, we’ll have someone to babysit for free when we need it,”** Chris added with a wink.

**“It would be free for Marry, for you, a hundred bucks an hour, I’m not cheap.”**

**“We have a deal.”**

**“No, no, wait. I’m not saying yes yet. I need some time to think things through.”**

**“Ugh,”** Chris groaned, **“always over analyzing things.”** Marry nodded in agreement.

**“Can’t deny that. May I know who the actor in question is? Is it one of the actors that no one knows about that you usually represent?”** Lena was laughing at her own joke.

**“Hilarious, Lena, Hilarious.”** Marry was suppressing her laugh in order not to hurt her husband’s feelings. He had yet to prove himself in order to get more famous actors, well, that was until now. **“It’s Norman Reedus.”**

**“That sounds familiar, since I heard that name, he must actually be famous. I just can’t put the face and the name together. I knew there was hope for you.”**

Chris ignored her little stab. **“He’s in “The Walking dead,” the guy carrying a…”**

The little light bulb turned on in her head: **“A crossbow, I remembered who he is. I need to think about it, how much time can you give me?”**

**“I told him I’ll have your answer in a week.”**

**“Okay, I’ll inform you soon. On a different note…”**

That’s how a month later Lena found herself driving through Long Island, taking Julia and John home. She rolled a window just a bit down and checked in the rare view mirror to see if the kids were still asleep. Then she saw with the corner of her eye that someone was approaching her from the street on her right, the motorcycle look like it wasn’t planning on stopping. She stepped on the breaks with full force and obviously did the motorcycle rider, because she saw the back tire of the bike being lifted of the ground. The bike came to a full stop just a few centimeters from her car. Her legs went completely numb for a few seconds. She looked at the driver and then quickly at Julia and John.

John had his eyes half open. **“Aunty, what happened?”**

**“Nothing, sweetheart, go back to sleep.”** Surprisingly, he did, whole afternoon at the park was obviously exhausting for the both of them.

Lena looked to the right again and felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. Biker was off the bike now, approaching her door. **“Well, maybe he is coming to apologize,”** she muttered to herself, but his posture was obviously threatening. One thing she never let other people see was her being intimidated. So, even though she was, mildly said, scared, she jumped out of her car and closed the door.

The biker only lifted the front part of his helmet: **“The fuck, lady?”** He was pretty much shouting.

Lena crossed her arms over her chest, unconsciously putting her guard up. **“Excuse me?”** She tried to sound civilized.

**“Are you blind, can’t you see that this is a four way stop intersection?”** He was even louder now.

**“Excuse me?”** It was all she could say again.

**“Where the fuck were you looking?”** He was now standing just a meter away from her.

And then she snapped. **“Don’t you fucking talk to me like that when you’re the one who’s at fault. I know why you think that this is a four way stop intersection, but it’s not anymore, not since the last year. And, even if it were, you should’ve stopped, not just pass through because you know you’re the fastest one. Drivers like you are the worst of the human kind. Instead of apologizing, you had the decency to yell at me. You, you, you fucking lunatic.”** Her arms were now at her sides, hands clenched into fists. **“Do you fucking see a fucking stop sign on my fucking side?”**

Biker looked at where he could’ve sworn was a stop sign.

**“Huh, moron, who’s fucking blind now?”** She was the one approaching him now while he slowly backed away.

**“You might be right, I’m…”**

She was fuming now. **“I might be right, MIGHT?”**

**“Chill, lady, all I was saying…”**

**“Did you just tell me to chill? I can’t believe this.”**

He dropped his helmet protection on his face again and tuned to his bike, lifting his arms in defeat. **“One day, you’re going to spread your legs for me,”** he said as he started walking towards his bike.

**“Was that supposed to be an insult? Guess you don’t know how to properly insult someone, just like you don’t how to drive.”** He flipped her of just before getting back on his bike.

Lena got back into her hard and closed the door a little harder than she intended to. **“Asshole.”**

She heard giggles coming from the back. **“You said asshole,”** John cheerfully exclaimed.

She turned around only to see both of them wide awake, knowing that they’ll most definitely turn her in to their parents for cursing in front of them. **“Shit.”**


	2. Chapter 2

New York streets were filled with people rushing to their workplaces, some of them on foot, others by car, desperately trying to get through traffic faster than possible. Not an unusual sight for Monday at 08:30 AM. Lena watched people in suits going around a group of tourists, probably silently cursing them for blocking the sidewalk. She was beyond glad her meeting with Mr. Reedus was at noon. Chris was going to pick her up at 11:30, which meant she had plenty of time to finish her cup of tea, cozied up in her sofa, before actually having to start to get ready.

 

By 11 o’clock, she was almost ready. She secured a neat bun with the last one of a dozen bobby pins that were holding her brown, long, thick hair in place. Like it usually when it was the least convenient, a pimple popped out on the left side of her chin. She tried to conceal it, but her effort was in vain. She covered imperfections on her face more or less successfully, while putting a touch of blush to give her pale skin some color. One coat of mascara made her blue eyes stand out more, even though they were already pretty big and round and she put some juicy lip balm on, because she looked ridiculous to herself with lipstick on her small, yet plum lips. She put on formal black pants and a white short sleeved shirt that could be tied in a little bow on her back. It was just a usual black and white combination she wore to work. Just a few drops of her favorite perfume behind her ears and on her wrists and she was ready. She picked up her already packed up purse from her bed and headed to the shoe closet placed by her apartment door. High and thin heeled black stilettos were her choice for the first meetings, she rarely wore heels even though she was pretty short, but for some reason, they gave her much needed confidence in these situations.

 

She was waiting for Chris on the other side of the street from her apartment, wearing big, black sunglasses that covered a big part of her face. At 11:30 sharp, Chris pulled over next to her with windows rolled down. **“To whose funeral are you going?”**

Lena got in the car and slammed the door. **“To yours, if you don’t stop with stupid jokes.”** She gave him a peck on the cheek. **“So, where are we going?”**

 **“You’ll see,”** Chris closed the windows and turned the A/C on, because it was unbearably hot in New York again.

 **“I already have a bad feeling, now that you said it like that.”** Lena removed her sunglasses and put them back in the purse.

**“Don’t worry, we’ll be there in 15 minutes.”**

**“Oh, God, it’s a terrible location, isn’t it?”** Lena rubbed her temples.

 **“Just keep your mind open and relax,”** Chris flashed a smile.

**“Jesus Christ.”**

Just like he said, after 15 minutes, he parked his car in front of what seemed to be a huge antique shop. There was a furniture store across the street with two markets on each side of it. A middle sized shopping mall was situated at the end of the street and it was approximately a hundred meters away and so were the building they passed prior to reaching their destination.

 

 **“Oh, no.”** Chris got out of the car first and Lena grabbed his elbow with both of her hands as soon as she got to him. **“Please, tell me this is not it.”**

 **“Oh, yes,”** Chris have her a few encouraging back pats with his free hand. **“Let’s go, I have a key.”**

 **“Where, exactly?”** Lena didn’t see anything that even mildly resembled a club of any sort in this area. He pointed at the antique shop. **“The antique shop, are you high?”**

**“Yes and no. I mean, not the antique shop itself. There’s a side entrance to the basement. Just follow me.”**

So she did. He unlocked a rusty door and she went down the really long stairs after him. The space was huge and did resemble a club, just an unfinished one, from who know how many decades ago. There were no window, but there were at least a few light bulbs.

 

When they came down the stairs, Chris threw an arm around Lena’s shoulder. **“So, what do you think?”**

 **“Well, for starters, I think you lied to me,”** she pinched him, knowing how much he hated it.

**“Ouch! I didn’t, I simply didn’t tell you the truth. , because you never asked.”**

**“I assumed that everything was already ready,”** she was louder now.

 **“Exactly, you assumed and I avoided telling you the truth. I really think you can help Mr. Reedus make something beautiful and unique out of this place. You’ll see, he’s a great guy and jazz is his great passion. I know you can do it,”** he grabbed by her shoulders as a sign of support. **“You. Can. Do. It.”**

 **“I hate you so much,”** Lena sighed in defeat. **“I’ll remember this one. You know, some day your daughter will grow up and she’ll want to know about your past and aunty Lena will have a lot of stories to tell, a lot.”** She squinted her eyes at him. **“That’ll be my revenge for this, you idiot.”**

 **“Don’t you dare, Lena.”** They were both grinning at each other now.

**“Oh, you’re so doomed in about 10 years. Revenge is a dish best served cold, ice cold.”**

**“We’ll see about that yet.”** He spun her around: **“Go, snoop around before Mr. Reedus comes.”**

**“Okay, fine. I’m gonna go check out that hallway/passage or whatever that is.”**

**“Sure, I’ll just sit here.”**

Unlike Lena, he was casually dressed and didn’t care whether he got dirty. The instant he took out his phone to text Marry, the entrance door opened and the silhouette of his boss appeared. He stood up as his boss was making his way down the stairs. **“Hello, Mr. Reedus.”**

 **“Hello, and how many times do I need to tell you that my name is Norman, Chris?”** He extended his hand to meet Chris’.

**“Old habits die hard, I guess.”**

**“You don’t even know how right you are. Now, where’s my manager? I want to meet her.”** Chris has never seen Mr. Reedus this excited, except when it came to jazz, well, this was about jazz.

Lena came from his back: **“That would be me, Mr. Reedus. Nice to meet you, I’m Lena.”** He turned to her and his smile slowly fell while he shook her hand.

 

 **“Oh, it’s you?”** His question sounded more like a statement to both Chris and Lena, but she chose to ignore the sudden unease that came over her.

 **“Yes, that’s me.”** Lena was pleasantly surprised, Chris told her that Mr. Reedus was 20 years older than them, but he looked way younger. A t-shirt, black jeans and black All Star’s contributed to that.

 **“Chris, I thought I asked you to find me the best manager out there, not some fetus who is even too young to drink.”** His eyes were glued to Chris.

Lena’s mouth gaped in shock: **“Excuse me?”**

 **“Well, Mr. Reedus, Norman, Lena is my age and she is the best out there,”** Chris moved closer to her, instinctively feeling the urge to protect her.

He gestured with his hand for him to start talking. His eyes were now on Lina. **“Is there anything else you know how to say except “Excuse me” and “Fucking”?”**

Lena was in a complete shock because of his rudeness. **“Excu… What?”** Then her finger flew in his direction. **“Oh, oh, I see, it’s you. I knew your voice sounded familiar.”** She dropped the accusatory finger, not taking her eyes off of him. **“Sorry, Chris, I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass this one. I really don’t feel like working with a jerk.”** She stomped on her heel and slightly pushed the jerk while going for the stairs.

**“It’s not that I feel like hiring you anyway.”**

**“Wait, Lena. What are you talking about?”** Chris followed her.

 **“This jerk here can tell you the whole story. I’m going home. See you tonight.”** Lena couldn’t believe that out of all people in the world it had to be him. Though, she would’ve never reacted this way if he hadn’t started it first.

**“Wait, I’ll drive you.”**

**“Chris, don’t worry about it, really, I’ll just call a cab. I’m sure you need to talk to your client about a lot of things now.”** Without turning around she said: **“And, Mr. Reedus, good luck with finding someone who is capable of turning this dump at this shitty location into something decent.”**

 **“Thank you very much, fetus.”** Lena continued walking with her head high, well, until her heel got stuck onto something and she almost sprained her ankle. The jerk snickered in the back. **“She doesn’t even know how to walk in heels, just like she doesn’t know how to manage a business.”**

That comment pushed Lena over the edge and she flipped him off and kept her fingers in the insulting position until she exited the venue, while Chris stared in horror. **“I’m sorry, Mr. Reedus, during the 9 years I’ve known her I’ve never seen her flip off someone, not even me. Not to mention that I’ve never seen her react like this. May I know what’s behind all of this?”**

 **“We obviously kind of know each other from before,”** Mr. Reedus sounded a bit distant. **“You see, two days ago, I was riding my bike…”**

Lena was glad she promised to babysit Julia, John and Nadia, Mary’s and Chris’ daughter in the afternoon, she needed something to help her get her mind off recent event. Her pride was hurt, no one has ever question her professionalism, let alone some jerk who knew nothing about management. She played her favorite playlist and started fooling around and dancing with the kids in order to forget everything.

 

To doorbell rang after a few minutes and Lena hurried to open the door, knowing it would be Chris and the kids followed after her. Nadia ran into his father’s embrace as soon as the door was open, but Lena froze. The jerk called Norman Reedus was behind him. **“Hey, Lena, I brought a guest, I hope you don’t mind.”** Chris took off his shoes, knowing it was a rule in Lena’s home and the jerk, surprisingly, followed him.

 **“You should’ve told me before that you’d be bringing him over,”** Lena whispered to Chris as he was lowering to put Nadia back on the floor.

 **“Probably, but then you would’ve said no.”** His voice was hardly audible: **“He comes in peace, let him speak, give him a chance.”**

She glanced at the jerk, he was awkwardly standing at the door. **“Mr. Reedus, please, come in.”**

 **“Thank you.”** He walked up to her and handed her a little carton bag. **“I brought you a peace offering.”** Lena reached in the bag, pulling out a book, but the jerk stopped her. **“Please, take a look at it when I leave.”**

 **“Okay, sure.”** She found it a little strange, but that’s exactly what this whole situation was.

Chris showed Mr. Reedus where to sit, while Lena prepared drink for the, before joining them.

**“Your apartment looks great, but the rent must be pricey as hell because of the location and size.”**

**“Actually, I own it,”** she said as a matter of fact, not a trace of bragging.

 **“So, your parents bought it for you?”** If there was one thing that bothered him, it was privileged rich kids, who didn’t have to do anything in their lives, but they still got everything. He know he shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t stop himself from poking a little fun at her. **“You must be a real daddy’s girl, getting everything you want. When you were younger, smaller things, but now when you’re all grown up, daddy must buy you bigger things, like a Manhattan apartment.”**

 **“Mr. Reedus, please,”** Chris was about to stop him, because he saw Lena almost gasping for air and nearly ripping a little pillow on her lap apart.

**“No, he doesn’t buy her anything. My grandpa is asleep in heaven, my grandma is too.”**

John came closer to his aunt and she ran finger through his hair. **“Sweetheart.”**

 **“Lena, Mr. Reedus didn’t know, I didn’t tell him,”** Chris was waiting for Lena’s response, but didn’t get any.

 **“Lena, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,”** but he knew he did and he felt like an asshole again when it came to her.

Chris interrupted him with his suggestion to take the kids out for an ice cream. Lena and Mr. Reedus stayed quiet while he literally dragged the kids out.

The jerk took a framed photo that was placed next to the TV, carefully analyzing it. **“Those were your parents, right?”** It was obviously a photo from a few years ago and even though Lena looked pretty much the same, she seemed carefree and her, now sad, blue eyes had a completely different glow, his lips almost twitched into a smile from the sight of her smiling in the photo.

 **“Please, put it down,”** Lena hasn’t moved from her spot and he put the photo back right away. She watched every move of his until he was seated back on the couch, right across from her. **“My brother inherited a house in Long Island and I inherited this apartment from my grandparents, not that that is any of your business.”**

 **“Lena, I really didn’t mean to,”** he moved to the edge of the couch.

She took a deep breath, wondering why she even felt the need to justify herself to him. **“You are right, though, I was a daddy’s girl, just not in that sense of the phrase. I was spoiled with love, not material things. True, I did have some privileges that come with money, but that was inevitable. I worked ever since I came to the US to study, even though I had a full scholarship.”**

 **“I apologize, I don’t know what came over me, not just now, today and two days ago too. I know that it’s not an excuse, but when I feel threatened, I fire back with full force.”** His blue eyes were intently looking at hers, just a few shades darker than his. **“Please, forgive me, it won’t happen again.”**

He outstretched his arm to hers and she took it with great hesitation. **“It better not.”**

**“Does this mean that we still have a deal? Chris showed me your café chain and I must say that I’m impressed,”** he leaned back into couch.

 **“I don’t know, I was expecting the physical part to be already ready,”** Lena copied his gesture.

**“I know, Chris told me today, sorry about that. The contractors were hired a few weeks back, I was just waiting for you and your opinion.”**

Lena was brought back to square one, she wanted to prove herself, but she was aware of the risk. **“Oh, to hell with it, I’m in.”**

She was still sitting when he jumped to her and hugged her. She didn’t expect it, nor did she return it. Although, she did notice he smelled divine. He let go of her after a second or so. **“We are going do to such an amazing job together, I know it.”**

 **“We will, if you don’t mess up something,”** she was deadly serious, but he took it as a joke.

 **“You are quite a funny one.”** He rose from his knees. **“I better be going. Same time, same place tomorrow?”**

**“Okay, great.”**

 

She followed him to the door.

**“See you tomorrow then, manager.”**

He reached for the doorknob when she heard herself say: **“They died in a car crash.”**

He instantly turned to her. **“Your parents?”**

 **“Yes.”** She was staring at him, assuming what he was preparing to ask. **“Over four years ago, back home.”**

 **“So, that’s why you reacted the way you did?”** He made himself clear right away: **“Not that you didn’t have every right to, I mean.”**

**“Yes, John and Julia were with me. I couldn’t live if something happened to them, or you. Being right in that situation wouldn’t help me much.”**

They still weren’t breaking eye contact. **“I understand. Do you want to tell me what exactly happened with your parents?”** He knew he was pushing too far, but he felt the need to know what happened for some reason.

**“Some kid drove through a red light, he was only 18, he was lucky enough to only have his arm broken. His friend who was on a passenger seat died too and he was a year younger.”**

**“Is he in jail now?”**

**“He is going out in two months. My brother and I didn’t want to press charges against him. He’s just a kid who made a terrible mistake. He has to live for the rest of his life knowing that he killed three people. There is no worse punishment.”** Lena didn’t know how she kept it together, but she did.

Norman wanted to hug this girl he’s only known for a few days, he wanted to wrap her in his arms, tell her that he wants to console her, because he saw tremendous amount of sadness in her beautiful eyes. Instead, he opted for something else, he ran his hand from her elbow to her hand, holding it briefly. **“I’m so sorry.”**

Lena watched his hand holding hers, not knowing how to react or why he did it. **“Just pay more attention when you’re driving, please.”**

 **“I will, I definitely will, I promise.”** He was going to, he never heard such a story directly from someone who had to live through it.

 **“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Reedus.”** They were still standing in the same spot.

 **“I think you are way over calling me Mr. Reedus,”** he let out a wholehearted laugh.

 **“Would jerk be more to your liking?”** She bit her lip, trying to sound completely professional.

**“Norman will be fine, thanks”**

She opened the door for him: **“See you tomorrow, Norman.”**

**“See you.”**

She went to pick up glasses off the table when a little colorful bag she forgot about got her attention. It had little colorful heels printed all over it. **“Maybe it’s a coincidence.”** Then she took out the book that was in it. It was titled “Management for dummies.” **“That witty jerk.”**


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys :) I want to thank you for reading my story, you are the best. If you have any suggestions or criticism, feel free to tell me. Hope you're enjoying reading so far.  
> P.S. Next chapter is going to have a little action in it ;)

Lena came an hour early in order to get to know the surrounding better, hoping to find same of the advantages of the location. There were none, except for the big parking lot had. There wouldn’t be any people dropping by just because they were in the neighborhood, there was nothing mildly interesting there. They’ll have to attract people by pure quality.

She also paid a visit to neighboring businesses, talking to their managers, informing them about future construction work and how she’s looking forward to having them and their employees as guests when the club opens. When it came to the antique shop, it turned out that its owner sold the property to Norman. It was his grandfather’s dream to open a jazz club, but he died before making it happen, so he wanted to sell it to someone who had the same plan. The place had no use for decades because his father wanted to keep the memory of his own father and this way they finally made a compromise. The owner made her a cup of tea and they had a nice little conversation. He offered to help out if they ever needed anything.

 

She left the shop at 11:45 and the first thing she saw was Norman’s bike, he was early, which, to her meant he was at least responsible. He was waiting for her by the entrance, leaning on a wall, holding his helmet, smoking a cigarette. He gave out a vibe of a bad boy, just like he was obviously painted by the media. She figured it out by simply Google-ing him last night after she put the kids to sleep.

He threw the cigarette away when he saw her. **“Hey, Lena. I saw your car and I was wondering where you were.”**

She went in for a handshake, but he ignored it and hugged her instead. **“Hi, Norman, I was just snooping around.”**

 **“Shall we?”** He unlocked the door an ushered her to go first. He wasn’t a very tall man, he was of average height, but she was still significantly shorter than him, he assumed she was only an inch or two above 5ft. As she was walking down the stairs, he couldn’t help but to notice her very well shaped butt. He noticed yesterday that she was kind of lacking in the chest department, but he was never much of a boob man himself. He started wondering what was wrong with him, she was his manager and 20 years younger than him, he told himself that he shouldn’t go there. Wanting to clear his mind, he shook his head, hoping she didn’t feel his eyes on here. **“No heels today? Smart.”**

She abruptly turned around, making him bump into her. **“Do you want me to flip you off again? I’ve never flipped off anyone before yesterday, but you make me want to do it again.”**

 **“I wouldn’t mind you flipping me off, I do it all the time. But, here, let me say something nice to you. You smell really nice, flowery.”** He was looking at the back of her head.

Without turning, Lena fired back: **“Wish I could say the same. You smell like someone spilled a perfume over an ashtray.”**

 **“Wow, young lady, don’t turn this into a lecture about how bad smoking is. I’ve been smoking for longer than you’ve been on this world. By the way, you unsuccessfully tried to cover your zit, even with this bad lightening, I can see it from a mile.”** It wasn’t that bad, he just saw an opportunity and took it.

Lena was on the line between being amused and annoyed. **“I’m this close to quitting,”** she almost pressed her index finger and thumb together and showed it to Norman, **“this close. And, and, your hair is ugly.”**

He theatrically threw his hair back. **“Technically, you’re not hired yet, so you can’t quit. Which reminds me…”** He pulled folded papers out of his pocket and placed it on the bar. **“The contract. I had my lawyer draw it up. I signed both copies, but we can discuss terms if you find something that’s not to your liking.”**

She unfolded the papers and unsuccessfully tried straightening them. **“How professional of you, I don’t know why I expected something different.”**

**“What can I say, I’m all about professionalism.”**

She used her phone’s flashlight to help her see better. Norman watched her profile, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but she had a completely expressionless face. She only reacted at the end of the contract, furrowing her brows. He knew she must have reacted to the pay he offered. **“Listen, if that’s not enough, I can offer you more.”**

Lena was glad the contract had only two pages, she was never a fan of necessary formalities and she was surprised by the amount of money she offered in exchange of her services. **“Were you really planning on paying me this much?”**

 **“Like I said, if that’s not enough…”** He told his lawyer to ask around about average paychecks managers of this type get and then he raised the sum, but now he felt he should’ve raised even more, because she definitely wasn’t a regular manager.

 **“You overrated me,”** she simply concluded.

 **“I did?”** He was relieved.

**“But, since you were ready to pay me this much, how about you take one third of it and give it to your future employees? They will be far more important than me.”**

**“I could give it to them without cutting your pay. But, it’s not like I was planning to give them the minimum wage.”** He was a bit offended.

**“I know you weren’t, don’t take it the wrong way. If you give me this much money, I wouldn’t feel at ease, knowing it’s way more than I deserve. But, if you give a part of it to them, you’ll have a bunch of happy employees who will make sure your guests are happy too. It’s a simple philosophy.”**

**“If that’s your choice, I can’t complain.”** He took the papers back. **“I’ll give it to my lawyer to redraw it. Anything else?”**

**“Actually, yes. I want to be able to leave after a year.”**

**“Wow, we haven’t even started yet and you already want out. Are you always this optimistic, fetus?”**

**“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop calling me fetus. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to leave then, but if I don’t do anything in a year, it will be better for the both of us if I leave. My chain might need me too, you can never know.”** She shrugged her shoulders.

 **“When it comes to you leaving because of your chain, you can always go back to Europe for a week or two, I don’t mind. And, if you do a good job, which I have a feeling you will, I will make sure you don’t leave, with or without a contract.”** He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eye, giving her shivers.

 **“You are one cocky guy, aren’t you?”** She pretended not to be taken aback, but there was something in his eyes that made her convinced he wasn’t joking.

**“Not cocky, just very confident.”**

**“Sure you are,”** she removed his hand and walked away. **“To be honest, you have chosen a pretty bad location.”**

 **“I don’t think so. Only people who really like jazz will come here, nobody will come just because they were in the neighborhood.”** He was following her around.

**“That’s exactly why it is bad, but I do get your point. The place itself is not so bad, it’s quite spacious, I like that.”**

**“That’s one of the biggest reasons I bought it, it’s big, but it still has a jazzy feeling.”**

**“If you say so.”**

**“Anyway,”** he pointed his finger at the bar, **it’s gonna stay there,”** he continued, **“bathrooms will be there, offices are going to be over there, stage – there, we are going to have tables around the stage and the whole upper floor is going to be just tables. Of course, the storage is going to be over there,”** he pointed at the corner next to the bar.

**“That actually sounds great, well done.” What about the regulations?”**

Norman smiled at the praise like when he was a schooled boy, praised by the teachers. **“Everything was checked and under control.”**

**“Okay, good. When is the contractor coming?”**

**“Tomorrow morning, at 8. We should be here by 7:30.”**

**“We?”** Lena was a bit puzzled. **“What for do you need me?”**

**“I’m going back to Georgia in a week, so I want you to meet him and be sort of a supervisor while I’m gone. I know it’s not a part of your job description, but you’d be doing me a great favor.”**

Since she though was going to start working right away, she didn’t mind doing it. She hated feeling useless. **“Okay, it’s not a problem.”**

They spent the next seven days together, spending every single day at the club, not because they needed to, but because they both wanted to. Norman loved getting on Lena’s nerves a little too much and she enjoyed their quarrels. For a Hollywood start, he was pretty much down to earth.

Before they parted on the last day, he asked her to occasionally come to the club and send him photos of the progress. **“You know, when you start missing me, feel free to call or text me.”**

**“When?! Keep on dreaming, Reedus.”**

He winked at her before putting on his helmet and riding off on his bike.

She knew she was going to miss him, heck, she missed him the second he set on that bike. She was starting to realize why women liked him so much. His bad boy charm was irresistible, even though she hated to admit it.

 

During the next month and a half, Lena had everything under control. Only a few minor things needed to be done before the interior designer took over. There was no need to be at the club every day, but she visited the sight at least 3 times a week. She had no idea when Norman was coming back, their conversations were strictly business related. She told herself that she missed him only because she hasn’t been in the company of such a funny man in a long time.

 

On the day contractors were supposed to be done, Lena was woken up by Chris’ phone call. **“Sorry for waking you up.”**

Lena was too tired to even hold the phone, so she placed it on the pillow beside her. **“It’s okay. Did something happen?”**

**“I need a favor. Nadia is sick, so…”**

Lena was now wide awake, she loved that adorable child to death. **“What’s wrong with her? Do you want me to come right away?”**

**“Relax, it’s just a fever, but Marry has to go to work and I have to stay with her at home.”**

She felt relieved. **“Kiss her for me. Shoot, what do you need?”**

**“Norman is coming today.”**

**“He is?”** She sounded way more excited than she intended to. **“Okay, and?”**

**“I was supposed to pick him up. Can you, please, do it for me?”**

**“Of course,”** she said it a little too fast. **“When?”**

**“In two hours, at 9:00.”**

**“Consider it done.”** She went out of the bed right away.

**“I’ll text you his flight number. Thank you, I owe you one.”**

  **“Don’t mention it.”**

Lena was at the airport on time, but Norman’s flight was delayed. She was planning to pick him up at the pick up lane, but now she had no choice but to park and go in. He landed 30 minutes later than planned and another 15 minutes passed until he got to the baggage pick up line.

Norman saw Lena before she saw him. He approached her from behind and hugged her around waist with his free arm. There was something about her scent that made him feel truly at home. **“I knew you’d miss me very much, but I didn’t think you’d miss me so much that you’ll have to see me as soon as I landed.”**

Lena instinctively got out of the hug. **“Are you crazy? You scared me to death.”**

 **“Crazy about you.”** His thin lips stretched into a smile.

For a second she thought, well, hoped he was serious. **“And, don’t flatter yourself, Reedus. Chris asked me to pick you up.”**

**“I know, he texted me, I just saw it.”**

**“Welcome home, Norman,”** she nudged him with her shoulder.

Their little moment was interrupted by a mature female voice. **“Excuse me, sir, you are Norman Reedus, aren’t you?”**

 **“Yup, that would be me,”** he turned to a middle aged woman who was standing next to Lena with the warmest smile.

The woman handed her phone to a man who must have been her husband. **“Do you mind taking a photo with me?”**

 **“Of course not,”** he walked to her and hugged her.

Lena slowly walked away, not wanting to photobomb them. For a second there, she forgot he was a big star. Soon there were around 10 people around him and he patiently chatted and took photos with them, occasionally glancing at Lena.

He saw his suitcase with the corner of his eye. **“Sorry, guys, I have to go. This is my suitcase.”** He went back to Lena’s side, taking his baggage off the moving track. **“Sorry.”**

**“There’s no need to apologize, you big shot.”**

**“Norman, who is that with you?”** Someone shouted from the crowd.

Norman turned to Lena with the most mischievous smile she’s ever seen on anybody.

 **“Don’t you dare say something stupid, Norman.”** She threw a death glare at him.

His lips spread into an even bigger smile. **“She’s my partner.”**

 **“Your partner?”** Another voice yelled and a few flashes went off.

Lena felt like killing him at that moment. **“No, I’m not,”** no one, but Norman, paid attention to what she was saying. **“You jerk, why do you like making my life miserable? You know they are going to take it the wrong way?”**

 **“Yup, my partner,”** he said it loudly once again. **“Because it’s fun.”**

Luckily, his fans had enough respect not to follow him around and Lena ignored him the whole way back to the car.

**“Will you at least take me to eat something?”**

**“No, starve to death, jerk.”**

**“Come on, take me to that little Greek place you were telling me about.”** He jumped in the passenger seat.

She took a good look at him and he blinked a few times, while making a puppy face. **“Fine, but I’m still mad.”**

**“We’ll go to the club after.”**

**“Aren’t you too tired for that?”** Lena drove off the parking.

 **“Nah, not really.”** He was dead tired, but he wanted to spend a little more time with her after not seeing her for so long.

 

While they were waiting for food at the restaurant, an acquaintance of hers who follows all the celebrity gossips, sent Lena a text. **“Wow, didn’t know Norman Reedus and you were dating. Congrats.”**

 **“I can’t believe this,”** she pretty much threw her phone at Norman. **“You are a dead man, Norman. And I’m gonna get lynched by your fans.”**

He read the message and pushed the phone back to her. **“Fine, I’ll make it right,”** not a trace of regret could be found on his face. He took out his phone and took a photo of her.

 **“What the hell are you doing? You are going to make things worse, aren’t you?”** She put her head into her hands.

Norman was silent as he was doing something on his phone. **“There.”**

Lena’s e-mail alert beeped right away, informing her of being tagged in a photo on Instagram. **“You better have not messed something up.”** When she opened it, she saw he posted a photo of her with a caption “Partner” and a flower symbol next to it. **“That’s it, I’m not talking to you anymore.”** The waiter was about to place the plates on their table. **“I hope you choke on your food.”**

Norman couldn’t stop laughing at his action. **“Come on, it’s funny.”**

They ate in silence because Lena ignored him the whole time and they drove in silence too, Lena’s silence to be exact. They went to the club and the workers were packing up, everything was done and everything was like Norman wanted.

Lena was talking to the main contractor while holding a blueprint when Norman snapped another photo of her, without her noticing. When she said farewell to everyone, she opened her e-mail account only to find the same e-mail from Instagram again. She opened it and there was a photo of her holding a blueprint while talking to the general contractor with the caption ”Business partner” and a lady dressed in a suit next to it.

 **“Was it so hard?”** She yelled at Norman.

 **“Sorry, but I still think it was funny.”** He hugged her as they walked up the stairs. **“Am I forgiven?”**

**“You jerk.”**


End file.
